During
by ToTheEndOfTheUniverse
Summary: What happened to Rose in her parallel universe after she was stranded on Bad Wolf Bay? Takes place in Pete's world between Doomsday and Stolen Earth, recounting the actions Rose took to get back to her Doctor. Rated T for what little language is in here.
1. Chapter 1

She stood there on the beach, sobbing uncontrollably. There was nothing in her power that could bring him back; and that fact alone crushed her. Rose Tyler, the Bad Wolf, had just lost everything she had ever loved yet again. She loved him and hated him all at the same time. She was so grateful to get to talk to him again, to see him again, but now she had to say her goodbyes for the second time, and this time was definitely worse than the first.

She crouched down in the sand, stabilizing herself by placing a hand on the wet surface of the beach. "Doctor." she whimpered, unable to say anything else before another round of sobs racked her body. Her mind kept going back to those last few seconds, he was about to tell her what she had been waiting to hear for years since they had been together. She kept thinking that if she hadn't stalled as long when answering him, or if she had asked better questions, hell if she had just come out and said it sooner, then she would have gotten to hear the words she had been longing for.

But there was nothing she could do now.


	2. Chapter 2

That night they drove back home. Mickey, Jackie, Pete, and her all jammed in the van. Rose could do nothing but stare out the window, trying to get her mind to shut off. She couldn't even bring herself to think of the good times before the invasion. Any thoughts of him just sent her into a darker pit.

"Rose, Honey, what do you want for dinner?" Jackie tried to get her daughter to say something.

Rose ignored her mother and continued to stare out the window. Talking just wasn't what she wanted to do at the moment, especially when it pertained to food; she already felt sick enough as it was.

Mickey sat in the seat next to her. Even though they weren't together anymore he still hated when she was upset. He placed a hand on her shoulder, massaging little circles into the back of her neck.

When they got home Rose didn't say anything to anybody. She slipped in the door and up to her room, flopping on her bed and letting out everything that she had been holding back on the drive home. She cried until no more tears came and fell asleep shortly after.


	3. Chapter 3

She awoke to a slight knock on her bedroom door. Rose looked over at her clock. 2:48 p.m. _Lovely,_ she thought. The knock came again. "Come in." Rose said, sitting up to rest her head against the backboard.

Pete made his way in to the room.

"Hey." He said, walking over to the foot of her queen-sized bed. More than once Rose had wondered what it would be like to have the Doctor there lying next to her.

"Hey." She mumbled back.

"How are you doing?"

Rose wanted to throw some sarcasm back his way, but it was too early for her to think of something good.

"I'm... OK." She finally said after some hesitation. She wasn't truly OK. In fact, it felt like someone had ripped out her heart, ran it over with a bulldozer, and then haphazardly sewn it back into place. She was anything but 'OK'.

"Well, I just wanted to check on you. See if you needed anything."

Rose shook her head no. Pete looked down.

"Well, just call down if you need anything. I'm sure mom will be up with some food eventually." Pete got off her bed and started walking towards the door. When he got to the threshold, he looked back at his adopted daughter. "It'll be OK kiddo. Just give it some time." Then he turned and left.

Rose closed her eyes, the Doctor's image dancing around on the back of her eyelids. Oh how she wished there was something she could have done to stop all this from happening. But she knew that the universe wasn't that easy. She crawled back under the covers and tried to block out the world.


	4. Chapter 4

Rose stayed in bed for a good week and a half. She barely ate, never left her room, and kept conversations to a minimum. After several failed attempts by Jackie and Pete to get Rose out of her room, Rose finally realized that she couldn't live like this forever. She had a short conversation with Mickey the day before. Apparently Torchwood was very interested in her, and was even willing to offer her a high ranking position, as long as she gave up what she knew about the Doctor and aliens of course. Rose had decided this was probably the best option. It was better than working in a shop at least.

Rose met Mickey outside the house that morning and they rode to Torchwood headquarters.

"Ready to get back to work, Rose Tyler?" Mickey asked as they sped down the road.

"Ready as I'll ever be." Rose sighed. It felt weird going to work on alien business without the Doctor by her side. "What all does Torchwood want from me anyways?"

"Oh just your typical stuff really. Do you know any alien technology, alien language translations, the usual. And they'll probably ask about the TARDIS, they've been trying to recreate that technology for a while now."

"The TARDIS?"

"Yeah, the TARDIS. Ya know, that big blue box?"

"I know what it is, Mickey." Rose turned her head from the front windshield to the side window, unwanted memories rushing back.

The ride was silent after that. When they reached Torchwood a tall woman in a business suit greeted them, two armed officers traveling behind her.

"Rose Tyler!" the woman said as Rose stepped out of the car. "It's an honor to finally meet you. I'm Beatrice Marlow, head of Torchwood Institute." She held out her hand to shake Rose's.

Rose timidly took Mrs. Marlow's hand, "Hi." she said.

"Come on in and we'll get you acquainted with everyone." Marlow said, turning to walk into the building. Rose and Mickey followed, the officers trailing behind them.

By getting acquainted, what she really meant was briefly introducing her to some of the office workers before taking her back to a debriefing room.

"Now, Ms. Tyler," Marlow sat in the chair opposite Rose. It was set up just like any police interrogation room, metal chairs and table, windows that only let the outside see in, and a camera in every corner. Just being in the room made Rose uncomfortable. "What can you tell us about the Doctor?"

"Um... He's a Time Lord. Last of his kind. His planet was destroyed..."

"No we already know the basics, Rose." Marlow cut her off. "We want to know the details."

"Details?"

"What was his relationship with other species? How did he get around in that blue box of his? How does regeneration work? Those sort of details." Marlow's smile seemed too fake.

Rose debated telling her the truth about what little she did know, or just lie and say she didn't know anything. "The Doctor was friends with the higher ups of some other species. Um, I don't know about regeneration, but I know it hurts." Rose trailed off for a second, remembering the talks she and the Doctor had shared in the TARDIS. "And the blue box is called the TARDIS." Rose finished her sentence.

"The TARDIS..." Marlow rolled the name through her head. "Any idea how it works?"

Rose shook her head no, "I know it had a...relationship...with the Doctor." She chucked, "Sometimes it seemed like it knew what the Doctor was thinking before he even did." It was the first time she had smiled since Bad Wolf Bay and it felt good to be able to be a little more carefree.

"Well, thank you for telling us what you know." Marlow stood up and smiled, realizing that she wasn't going to get any more out of Rose. "Now, would you like to see our Collection?"

The Collection was a stockpile of alien artifacts, some harmless while others could destroy planets.

"Why do you have all this stuff?" Rose asked, picking up a particle gun she remembered seeing once on an adventure with the Doctor.

"The world is a dangerous place. We know this now because of the Cybermen invasion. You can never be too careful." Marlow watched Rose's expression.

Rose set down the particle gun, looking over the vast collection of items. "But some of these objects could destroy whole planets!"

"You can never be too cautious."

Rose crashed as soon as she got home. Her first day at Torchwood was over and she didn't know what to think. Torchwood on Earth seemed just as bad as Torchwood in Pete's world, and that was not a comforting thought. Rose took off her issued name tag and set it on her dresser. 'Head of Otherworldly Affairs' was her official position, but she liked the title Companion much better.

She sighed, closing her eyes. Even things that didn't remind her of the Doctor reminded her of the Doctor.


	5. Chapter 5

Weeks went by at Torchwood. Rose's job was simple: when she wasn't sitting at a desk being bored out of her mind, she was in the Locker, trying to help as much as she could with either assembling or recreating alien technology.

She found that working for Torchwood helped her, if not to get over the Doctor, then at least to settle her emotions. She still longed for him, but now most of her attention was placed on her work.

It wasn't long before Marlow called her in for another briefing. This time, instead of going to the interrogation room, they went past the Locker, into a series of underground tunnels, down an elevator, and then past heavily guarded bulletproof steel doors.

They stepped into the room. In front of them was a circle of very large, tall mirrors.

"What... What is it?" Rose couldn't fathom what was in front of her. Scientists buzzed about the space checking multiple cables that ran from the mirrors to a control panel, ends of cables splaying out across the floor.

"This, Miss Tyler, is a time machine." Marlow beamed.

Rose couldn't believe her. Even with all the crazy things she had seen in the universe, there was no way this circle of mirrors could amount to being a time machine.

"Really?" Rose asked. "How does it work?"

"Well, theoretically speaking, the mirrors are just a catalyst. They'll bounce chronon energy around and then we can control where that energy takes you. They're still working on the jacket. That'll protect you from temporal feedback, and also will lock the chronon energy onto you, that way only the person with the jacket will get transported and not the entire block."

"Theoretically? So you don't even know if it'll work?"

"No. But we have a pretty good idea that it will."

"But even if it does work, you can only travel in this dimension."

"Not necessarily." Marlow led Rose through the room and past some thick plastic curtains. "This is our number one top secret project, Rose. The Vortex Manipulator Mark II. The Void might be closed, but we still believe that there is a way around that. We have discovered that we might be able to jump the void all together. If we can program the manipulator to jump farther distances, we might be able to get over the Void. If that doesn't work, this dimension has to be linked to another dimension, which somehow must be linked to your world Rose, where the Doctor is."

Rose's breath caught in her throat. It couldn't be possible. There was no way out of this dimension. Yet, if there was a way, it meant she could get back, to see her Doctor yet again.

"But wouldn't either jumping the Void or playing hop-scotch through dimensions tear apart reality? The Void was there for a reason."

"Mickey told us about how the Doctor got through to you. We think we can replicate that same technology, but in a grander scale."

"The Doctor found a rip in the Void. It closed right after we lost contact with him."

"How do you know there's not any more rips?"

Rose didn't know what to say to that. Surely if there were any more rips the Doctor would have made contact again. But then again, maybe he wouldn't have. It had been months since the Canary Wharf incident. He could have moved on, gotten another companion, or even regenerated. Rose tried not to think about the last option.

"So then why are you telling me all this?" Rose asked.

"Because we need you to help us. You know the most about TARDIS technology and dimension jumping. And the more brains we have working on this, the faster we can get her running."

Rose thought for a second. "Okay." she finally breathed. "Let's do it."

Project 'Tombstone', which seemed to be a very fitting name in Rose's opinion, became her constant focus. The faster they could get this done, the faster she could see her Doctor. Months went by and it seemed like very little progress was made. Test runs occurred, but never ended well. Rose tried to remember all she could about time travel and Jack's Vortex Manipulator, but by now it was all very fuzzy.

Rose was in another weekly meeting when the first breakthrough occurred.

"Besides all the setbacks with the Mark II and the Jumper", the 'Jumper' was the lab's friendly name for the time machine that never seemed to work, "we have finally gotten a good response from the Temporal Projector." Thomas, one of the scientist on the project explained.

"Temporal Projector?" Rose cut in. She hadn't heard a word about this device.

"It's like a telecommunicator between dimensions. We can hack into security cameras, TV screens, the works." Thomas explained.

"And this works in this dimension?" Rose was skeptical.

"And your dimension."

Rose was silently impressed. She didn't even know half of the things that Torchwood worked on could even be invented.

"How do you know it worked? How do you know you didn't just hack into one of this dimensions cameras?" Marlow, who was sitting beside Rose, asked.

"Because we hacked into the other dimension's Torchwood headquarters. Different versions of people work at different dimension's Torchwoods, that's how we know." Thomas said.

"Can we see?" Marlow asked.

Everyone followed Thomas into a separate room. The room was dark; a video camera faced a chair that was situated in front of a backdrop close to the back of the space. Screens and other machines were lined up behind the camera near the front of the room.

"We can work the machine both ways." Thomas explained. "This big screen right behind the camera displays the same image that whatever we've logged into is showing. Now, if we've logged into a screen, we can project our video to that screen and override whatever was originally on it. We're still working out the kinks with that type of communication though."

Thomas started typing on a keyboard and pulled up a video of downtown London.

"Notice anything different?" Thomas asked.

At first no one said a thing. Everything looked the same, but then small differences started to appear. No signs for Pete's crazy inventions, a street light changed around here or there. The gasps started emerging from the crowd.

"Right now we are streaming video from a London security camera, from what we believe to be Rose's dimension."

Rose believed it too. Everything looked just as she had remembered.

"Can you track people? Like, if you want to find out where someone is, can you do that?" Rose asked.

"It's a possibility. As long as we have an idea of where they might be we should be able to hack into some global satellites and find them through there."

Rose smiled, a plan swirling around in her head.

That night, Rose had one of the best sleeps she had had since being thrown into this dimension.


	6. Chapter 6

Rose moved from working on the Mark II to helping out as much as she could with the Temporal Projector. It took time trying to locate all possible screens, cameras, and satellites just on earth alone, not to mention Rose was trying to get as much information on alien planets as well, just in case they tracked the Doctor to one of them. The area around London in Rose's world was completely bug free, since they had cameras in this dimension available to them, but the farther away you moved, the more bugs they encountered with the system.

One day, when Rose was talking to Marlow, she finally asked a question that had been in her mind since the beginning.

"So, how is all this capable? Like, how is the Temporal Projector even reaching into other dimension when the Void is closed?"

Marlow looked around and then focused back on Rose, "A few of us believe that the Void is starting to crack. We don't know how, and we don't know what will happen if it completely splits open, but it is letting us pull enough energy for us to be able to get between worlds."

"A few of us? And, hold on, won't traveling between worlds just rip open the Void even more? I mean if there's already a chance that it could destroy us, why push it?"

"Only the top few of us have discussed this. Everyone else believes we are jumping over the Void or around to different dimensions until we find the right one. But really it's simpler than that. We don't know what will happen when we use the machines. It could either tear the worlds apart right then and there or it could possibly do nothing. We don't know. But we're here for the same reason you are Rose. The Doctor."

Rose couldn't believe what she was hearing, "Look, I know you want to find the Doctor to put him to questioning and force him to teach you to build weapons of mass destruction, but that's not worth putting all these innocent lives at risk!"

"But there's a possibility that nothing will happen. By doing this we are expanding our horizons and becoming a safer planet. Isn't that better for everyone?"

"Not if you're wrong and this whole world gets sucked into the Void! Don't you people have any concept of the value of human life?"

"Rose," Marlow tried to calm her, as people were starting to stare, "We know what we're doing. The Void has been closed once and we can do it again. We won't try anything until we have an idea of how the Void will react, OK?"

Rose didn't reply. She was so tried of Torchwood's shit, but they were the only hope she had if she wanted to get back to her dimension.


	7. Chapter 7

At last, a break through occurred with Mark II.

Henry, one of the main scientists on the project, called a meeting.

"We think we've found a way to jump past the void completely. It will be safer than going through multiple dimensions, and also faster." Henry explained

"Have you ran preliminary trials yet?" Marlow asked.

"Yes, and they all worked well enough."

"So now we need to really test it."

"Correct."

The air was stiff. Everyone knew what this meant. Human trials had to occur, but the risk of making it to the other side in one piece was still low considering the circumstances.

"I'll do it." Rose spoke up from the silence.

"What? Are you sure?" Marlow asked.

"Yes." _Besides,_ Rose thought, _what more could go wrong?_ Already life was hard enough for her, and if it ended up that this experiment never worked she might as well die trying to see its success; she already felt dead inside, and she was not going to see her one chance possibly fall apart in front of her.

"Okay, we will start the trials tomorrow."

The next day, Marlow stood with Rose as the scientists gathered up everything she was going to need.

"You don't have to do this, Rose." Marlow tried to persuade.

"But I want to." Rose insisted. She had already gone over everything that could go wrong while she was trying to sleep last night. The one thing that kept her going was the thought of finally seeing her Doctor again. Rose lowered her voice, "They said this would jump the void..."

Marlow cut her off, "No, again that's just for show. It's been programed to go through it."

Rose didn't find that any more comforting than the thought of jumping over the entire thing.

The scientists started hooking her up with all types of equipment: heart rate and brain wave sensors, emergency oxygen, and Torchwood's standard issue gun, which she had always refused until now. At last they connected the Mark II, a simple leather bracelet with a screen showing oxygen levels in the air, coordinates, the current date and time, and then a box where she could choose another place to jump to. It was pretty much a sleeker version of Jack's huge manipulator.

Henry explained what to do while the other scientists checked Rose's vitals. "Press this button" he motioned to the bracelet, "to teleport there and back. We have you set for landing in London across the Void in your old world. Don't talk to anyone, don't mention your name, nothing that could disrupt the causal nexus. Got it?"

"Got it." Rose agreed. "How long do I have?"

"As far as we know, as long as you want. But I wouldn't push it past 10 minutes. We need to see how the Void reacts first."

Rose nodded and got into position. Henry went back over to the controls which showed all her vitals and current location.

"Whenever you're ready." He said to Rose.

She took a deep breath, "Here goes nothing," she muttered, and pressed the device.


	8. Chapter 8

p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"It took about a second for her to jump from one place to another. The sensation of being pulled through the void wasn't as bad as she had imagined. It was like being tugged a bit in every direction then feeling almost weightless for half a second before the ground appeared back under your feet. Rose opened her eyes and looked around. It was definitely London, but something was off. The sky was unusually dark and no one was in the street. /span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"Rose looked up. Planets were in the sky above her, planets she had never seen before. A single streak of light flashed in the sky, followed by a few more, and then the sky was filled with them. Daleks everywhere, landing on the street, blasting people from the sky. It was like the Battle of Canary Wharf all over again./span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"Rose ran to the closet alley and slid her back down the wall, trying her best not to go into a panic attack. Rose took her breaths one at a time, attempting to calm her mind. emIt's ok,/em she thought to herself, emyou can do this. They're just Daleks. You've defeated Daleks before. This is no different./em Rose took one more deep breath before standing up. She unclipped the gun from her belt, then peeked her head out of the alleyway. /span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"Daleks filled the sky but there was one thing Rose didn't see, the Doctor. She kept waiting to see the TARDIS race across the atmosphere, or for him to appear behind her, but all was quiet except for the electronic rumble of Daleks talking and the zing of their guns taking innocent lives. /span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"Behind her she heard rumbling in the streets. Rose whipped around to see a Dalek coming straight for her. /span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px""Huumannn." The Dalek rumbled. "You shall be exterminatedd."/span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px""No! I... I surrender!" Rose stumbled backwards./span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px""There is no surrrrenderinggg. All humans will be exterrrminatedd." /span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px""Why? We haven't done anything to you." Rose continued to move backwards./span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px""It is the order of our leaaderr. Exterrminatee!" The Dalek raised it's gun towards Rose./span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"Rose pressed the button to return to Torchwood, barely escaping the Dalek's laser blast./span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px" /span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"Rose landed back at Torchwood, hands and knees pressed against the floor, gasping for breath./span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px""Rose!" Marlow ran over to help her up. "Rose are you ok?"/span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"Rose was shaking so much she could barely stand. "I... I don't know..."/span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px""What happened? We lost you on the radar as soon as you disappeared." Marlow kept ahold of Rose as she regained her footing./span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px""Daleks." Rose breathed. "They were... They were everywhere."/span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px""Daleks!" the room went still, "In London?"/span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px""Yes, but I don't think it was present London." Rose's composure was slowly coming back./span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px""The Mark II should have the coordinates still saved." Henry came over and removed Rose's bracelet. "We should be able to see where she was once we plug it in..."/span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"A few seconds later Henry turned back to Rose, "Congratulations Miss Tyler. You have officially traveled into the future."/span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px""I don't understand." Marlow left Rose's side to look at the monitors, "I thought the Mark II was incapable of time travel?"/span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px""I guess we were wrong." Henry said. "Must have been a loose wire or something. But if we could get it under control, imagine the possibilities!"/span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px""Get those wires off of Rose," Marlow changed the subject. "She deserves the rest of the day off." /span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"Mickey drove Rose home in silence, but as soon as they parked Rose couldn't hold back anymore. /span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px""There were Daleks, Mickey. Daleks everywhere. I couldn't... There was nothing anyone could do. No Doctor, no stopping them. As soon as I saw them I just froze." Rose was shaking hysterically. "I couldn't do it Mickey! I couldn't even look at them. It was like that day all over again. I broke down... I couldn't..." The sobbing racked Rose's body so hard she could barely breathe. /span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px""Hey. Shhh... shhhh. It's ok. Rose, Rose look at me. It's ok. The Dalek's aren't here. You're safe. That wasn't even our dimension. There's nothing to worry about." Mickey leaned over and hugged Rose./span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px""But it's his dimension, Mickey." Rose whispered."He's there, or he's somewhere. He never showed up and it looked like he wasn't going to. The Doctor wouldn't just leave them to die. What if something happened to him? What if he's dead?"/span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px""This is the Doctor we're talking about. You know him, always wanting to make a grand entrance. He was probably just trying to be fashionably late. He's not dead, I'm sure of it."/span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px""I have to warn him."/span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px""Rose you know there's no way to do that."/span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px""But what about the Temporal Projector? I can figure out where he is and go find him."/span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px""Rose it's too risky. The Temporal Projector only works one way so far. And there's no guarantee the Mark II will even take you where you're supposed to go."/span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px""I have to try."/span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;"Mickey silently shook his head, there was no stopping her once Rose's mind was set./p 


	9. Chapter 9

Rose went back to work, the idea of the Doctor seared into her mind. She had to get the machines working, if for nothing else than to make sure the Doctor was still alive. For the first time she stayed overtime every night. Henry stayed with her most of the time, helping her plan out ways to finish the Temporal Projector and the Mark II. Every night Rose would watch the cameras, searching London and whatever other areas they had finally debugged for any sign of the Doctor. As soon as she knew his whereabouts, she was going to try the Mark II again, fixed or not.

"It's not safe. We need to make sure you'll end up in London instead of ending up in the Void." Henry tried to warn against her plan one night when Rose finally gave up what she was after.

"I have to move as soon as we find him. The Doctor, he moves so fast. There's no guarantee we'll find him again."

The Temporal Projector got to the point where it could send video through screens, but whether the audio worked was another story. The Mark II slowly improved. Non-human trials went off without a hitch, and it was finally deemed clear for human testing again. It was determined that Rose would try to head to the present version of London yet again. This time she made it there and back perfectly.

A few nights later, as Rose was studying the Projector's camera feeds, movement caught her attention. Little white blobs started walking down the road and soon the streets were covered in them.

"What is that?" Henry asked.

"I don't know," Rose answered smiling, "But it has the Doctor written all over it." She got up and grabbed the Mark II, wrapping it around her wrist.

"Whoa you don't plan on going _right now_, do you?" Henry got up to stop her.

"Of course I'm going right now! Is there going to be a better chance than this?"

"We still need to get everything hooked up, connect the Mark II to the computers..."

Rose set the destination on the bracelet to present day London, "Too late." And with that she pressed the button. A second later she landed on the streets of London, white blobs with faces being raised into the sky. Rose took a look around her and decided to search the streets to see if she could find the TARDIS. A few minutes later, she saw it. The box sat on the side of the road, a few yards behind a blue car, just as she remembered it. She reached into her pocket and and felt the cold metal of her her old TARDIS key. She kept the key on her constantly, reminding her of her goal, and possibly, for occasions like this.

She walked up and stroked the door. "Hey old girl. Miss me?" She chuckled, she was more like the Doctor than she thought.

She was about to try the door when she heard screams coming from the main road. She ran back out; people were starting to crowd around, police having to push everyone back to set up gates. As Rose approached, she saw a lady dressed like a nanny lying dead on the ground. More police arrived, erecting the final barricades. Rose looked up from the scene, her heart skipping a beat.

There he was, in the same body she left him in, looking just as radiant as ever. Then she saw the woman beside him, red haired and in a business suit. They smiled at each other before she dragged him off. They passed down the side of the road before turning down the street where the TARDIS was parked. Rose looked down, licking her lips. So that was his new companion. Rose knew she shouldn't be upset, in the back of her mind she knew this would happen, but she couldn't help feeling like he had betrayed her. She forced herself to calm down. After all, she didn't even know what their relationship was.

Too many questions raced through her head. Who was that red head? How was the Doctor? Did he even remember her? Should she go after them?

Rose decided against that last one. She needed to figure out more before she raced to conclusions. She heard a women's voice coming towards her.

"Listen," Rose spun to see whom was speaking to her, "There's this women who's going to come along. A tall blonde woman, named Sylvia. Tell her "that bin there". All right, it'll make sense. "That bin there"." The woman grinned before running off.

It was the red head, heading back to the Doctor. Rose's Doctor.

Rose couldn't stand being in this dimension any more. She turned around and walked off, pressing the return button on the Mark II.


	10. Chapter 10

"Finally!" Henry said, walking up to Rose once she had reappeared. "So, it worked! The GPS tracker picked up the signal and everything."

"Yeah, yeah, that's great." Rose said absentmindedly.

"What's wrong? What happened?"

"Nothing's wrong. I guess. I mean, I found him. But I also found his new companion."

"Well that's great! Did you talk to him?"

"No, I couldn't."

"Oh..."

"How many people in the London area do you think are named Sylvia?"

"Maybe a dozen, possibly less."

"Do we have access to personal records, birth certificates, anything like that?"

"Yeah, we can do that."

"I need everything you have on a blonde woman named Sylvia."

The next day Rose shifted through all the information that Henry and his team had gathered on Sylvia. There were three blonde haired Sylvia's living in London; Sylvia Darouth, Sylvia Platt, and Sylvia Nobel. After a few hours of checking and cross checking references, Rose figured out that Sylvia Nobel was their best bet. Sylvia Nobel, whose husband was deceased, lived with her dad and her daughter, red headed Donna Nobel. Rose found that Donna used to be a temp for H. C. Clements before quitting her job after her fiancé, who also happened to work for Clements, disappeared the night of their wedding. He was presumed to be dead but there was no information on how he died. Donna was still currently unemployed. _She sure sounds like the type of girl he would pick up,_ Rose thought.

"Henry?" Rose called.

"Yes." Henry poked his head around the corner.

"Do you think there would be a way to track this Donna Nobel girl through the Temporal Projector?"

"We can try."

Rose nodded and sat down in the chair by the Projector, facing the monitors. Over the past few weeks she had gotten extremely good at programming the thing. She went to the Look Up system, selected People, and programmed the feed to alert her and track anyone that looked like Donna Nobel.

Rose sat back and thought. There had to be something else she could do to track them faster. After all, very few alien planets had been set up on their radar. Rose played with the key in her pocket, then suddenly stopped. The TARDIS key was able to call the TARDIS. Obviously it wouldn't be able to pull through to another dimension, but surely that TARDIS energy in the key was the same makeup as the actual TARDIS.

Rose thought fast, grabbing the parts she knew she would need, and running back to grab the ones she forgot. Rose stayed overnight at Torchwood, working until early morning the next day. Finally the device was done. Rose had created a honing device for the Projector. It consisted of a small chamber that, when an object was placed inside, would track whatever the object was connected to. In her case, the device would collect the TARDIS data from the key and transfer that into the Projector, making it capable to detect the TARDIS if it happened to appear in any of their tapped cameras.

She sat back and let out a deep breath, letting her eyes close for the few minutes before the first workers would start to arrive.


	11. Chapter 11

Rose explained her project to the rest of the main scientists. Henry was particularly pleased, and voiced how proud and excited he was to the rest of the committee. Most had their doubts, presumably because Rose had never shown any true mechanical skills before, but, when they tested it out with smaller objects, it ran without a hitch. The device was approved and the TARDIS key was placed inside. Now all Rose had to do was wait.

Months passed with nothing. No news on Donna Nobel, no news on the TARDIS. The team still worked on getting the Temporal Projector fully functioning, but there was really nothing else to do but wait.

Then finally the TARDIS was found on Earth again, followed, of course, by a cloud of Carbon Dioxide that was smothering all of London.

"I can't let you go." Marlow told Rose. "I'm not going to let you die on the suspicion that you might be able to talk to the Doctor."

"It's not a suspicion, I know he's there."

"No, Rose. I will not allow it. You'll just have to wait until it's safer."

Rose paced, trying to think of how to get to her Doctor. Then it hit her.

"Henry, set up the Temporal Projector!" Rose ran into the room, "I need you to set it to contact the TARDIS."

"We don't even know what the TARDIS looks like inside." Henry said.

"I do. There's one screen that picks up signals. The Projector will transfer the feed to that, trust me."

"Ok..." Henry and his team set up the camera while Rose took a seat in the chair.

"Live in 3... 2... 1..." Henry pointed to Rose, signaling that she was clear to start speaking.

"Doctor? Doctor are you there? Doctor?" Rose pleaded, but no response came.

"It shows that we're transmitting, it just doesn't show any audio." Henry said, fiddling with the controls.

"Doctor? Please Doctor, please say something. I need you." she whispered the last part.

"Are you kidding me!?" Henry slammed his fist on the table. "Stupid thing keeps cutting out. We can't get a solid connection." He sighed. "I'm sorry Rose. I know at least part of the message went through. All we can hope is that he saw it."

"Yeah. Thanks for trying." she got off her chair, wondering what she was going to do now.

"We'll keep working on the signal. We'll get it to work."

"Thanks." Rose managed a half smile. She knew it wasn't their fault, but it still killed her to know she was so close, yet so far.


	12. Chapter 12

Again everything was at a standstill for another few months. Rose searched constantly for new planets to add to their list. She was able to find a few hundred, but they could only establish contact with a dozen or so.

Rose kept thinking back to the Darkness, as the team decided to call it, and how she needed to know why the Doctor wasn't there. She kept telling and retelling herself the mission: make sure the Doctor shows up.

Then, again, they were able to lock onto the TARDIS. This time it was on an alien planet Rose had found not too long ago. It was a planet full of diamonds, called Midnight. The diamonds and X-tonic radiation caused some issues when they were first setting up their feeds, but Rose was determined to get through. They searched through the security feeds, trying to locate where the Doctor would be, finding him getting on a bus at the west end of the building.

"Are there any screens on that bus?" Rose asked, going from one control panel to the next.

One of the operators answered. "Yes, there's a few. It might take some time but we can feed video into them."

Rose watched as Henry's team got to work, patching in codes and viruses to make sure the system connected properly.

"Now," Henry told Rose quite a while later, "It's set up, but the bus is traveling outside causing our systems to react even more to the feedback of the radiation. There's no guarantee it'll even send the broadcast through."

"We have to try." Rose sat in the chair facing the camera and waited for her signal.

Henry pointed at her and Rose began, "Doctor? Doctor can you hear me? I have to warn you about something, the Darkness. Doctor? Doctor! Doctor! Please Doctor."

Henry shook his head in the distance, "The audio won't patch through. Transmission is being faulty as well. I think the end of that might have gone through, but we can't be sure."

Rose placed her head in her hands, sighed, and then wiped her hands through her hair. "It's ok. We'll figure it out."


	13. Chapter 13

p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"Not that long after the TARDIS reappeared, this time in the past. /span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px""I'm going." Rose announced, getting up and strapping the Mark II on./span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px""Be careful." Marlow said, "We don't know what's going on there, and if the Doctor is back in London, especially on Christmas Eve, it can't be good."/span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px""It's probably nothing. Besides, I'll warn him and then be right back." Rose pressed the button and was transported to outside the TARDIS. They had the Mark II wired to lock onto the TARDIS now, making it a lot easier for Rose./span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"Rose heard screams around her and looked up to see missiles being fired at a giant, white star. She turned to look at the TARDIS. As soon as she touched it something felt, off, like it wasn't a living thing anymore. /span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px""Oh no." Rose whispered. She did not have a good feeling about this. She turned the corner to see UNIT officers in place around the barricades, a body being loaded into the back of an ambulance. She spotted Donna in the crowd and ran to her. Surely that wasn't the Doctor on the stretcher. After all, he had been alive only a week ago in the future./span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px" /span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"She finally reached Donna, "What happened?! What'd they find?" She stopped, catching her breath. "Sorry did they find someone?"/span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px""I don't know." Donna replied. "Um... Bloke called the Doctor or, or something."/span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px""Well where is he?"/span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px""They took him away. He's dead." Rose looked at Donna, horrified. "I'm sorry did you know him?"/span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"Rose looked away, trying to compile her thoughts. He couldn't be dead, she had just tried to contact him. Besides this was in the past, Donna wasn't even his companion yet. Something was wrong about this whole time stream./span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px""I mean, they didn't say his name." Donna continued, "Could be any doctor."/span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px""I came so far." Rose said to herself. /span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px""It.. It could be anyone." Donna tried to reassure Rose./span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"Rose turned back to Donna, "What's your name?"/span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px""Donna, and you?"/span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px""Well I was just..." Rose felt this strange presence connected to Donna on her back, "Passing by." Rose looked away from Donna's back, "I shouldn't even be here. This is wrong." Rose was again pulled back into looking at Donna's back, "This is wrong, this is so wrong." Rose tried to figure out what was going on. "Sorry, what was it, Donna what?"/span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px""Why do you keep looking at my back?" Donna asked./span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"Rose looked away, "I'm not."/span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px""Yes you are. You keep looking behind me. You're doing it now. What is it, what's there? Did somebody put something on my back?"/span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"Rose couldn't be here anymore. She had to get back and figure this out. Something had gone wrong, terribly wrong. She pressed the return button when Donna looked away./span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"As soon as she got back to HQ everyone was trying to ask her what happened. She didn't answer, simply walking through them to sit down at her desk, working through what just happened. Maybe this was why no Doctor showed up when the Daleks attacked. He was already dead. Rose couldn't believe it. She placed her head in her hands, closing her eyes. She had come so far, tried to contact him so many times, and yet it did nothing. The universe kept on spinning in the same direction with no acknowledgment of what she had tried to do. /span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"But it was wrong. The Doctor was alive in the future and now dead in the past. Which meant he had lived through the same situation before. But how? Something was obviously wrong with Donna. She had never felt that kind of energy before. How was Donna so oblivious to it? It was almost as if it was controlling her. And then Rose got it./span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px" /span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"Obviously something was taking control of Donna, changing time around her. If they could figure out what it was, and how to get it off, then could send Donna back in time to fix whatever had caused everything else to go astray. /span/p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;" /p  
p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;"The Jumper was finally starting to show good progress and was predicted to be ready within a few weeks. The good news was that with the Jumper ready they would be able to send Donna back to fix her timeline in necessary. The bad news: Rose had no idea what to do about the invisible force around her, and how it related to the events that had just taken place. Somehow they needed to make this force, or whatever was controlling the force, appear. Rose shook her head, too many questions surfacing all at once. She would need to go back and talk to Donna some more, see if she could figure out what type of energy was coming off of her and also see if somewhere in the back on her mind, she remembered the Doctor. /p 


	14. Chapter 14

While Rose worked on the next step to figuring out how to determine the energy that was controlling Donna's life, she had the crew of the Temporal Projector track the temp's every move. The first thing she noticed was that Donna didn't work for H.C. Clements anymore, but instead was the assistant for a man named Jival Chowdry.

When Henry brought her the news, Rose's head started spinning with ideas. "Well then there we go. H.C. Clements is where she worked when she met the Doctor. Now all we have to do is track her past and figure out at which moment she decided not to take the job at H.C. Then we can go back and change her mind."

Henry two finger saluted before leaving Rose to her work.

While Henry worked on the past, Rose worked on the future. As long as Donna still lived in a Doctor-less universe her life was up for grabs to any alien force that might decide to raid Earth. Rose had to make sure Donna stayed alive.

Rose took many unauthorized trips to her old world, trying to document all alien evasions and when they would occur. Christmas day 2008 was the first attack of many. A replica of the Titanic was to hit London, causing the entire city to be destroyed and uninhabitable. When Rose got back to her new world she researched Donna's home, which was, of course, in the strike zone. And with that Rose had her first mission, making sure Donna and her family were gone when the ship hit.

Within a day Rose knew what she had to do to get Donna out of the city. The printing company she worked for was holding a raffle, first prize being a trip to the country. Rose travelled back to Donna's world, making sure that the ticket Donna would be handed was the winning one. Yes, Rose felt bad for tampering with someone else's destiny, but if Donna didn't meet the Doctor there would be no future for anyone to look forward to.

After the ticket was taken care of, Rose continued to travel farther in the future. Not long after the Titanic attack, Adipose would take over the United States, followed by the atmosphere being clouded with poisonous gas from ATMOS devices, leaving Jack Harkness stranded on the Sontaran's planet. Three weeks later the Darkness would start to occur. Rose stopped there, not wanting to see another Dalek invasion.

Once Rose's timeline was set, she figured out at what times she would need to visit Donna. Trying to find the right balance between gaining Donna's trust and not pushing her too far was difficult. She figured she needed one time to convince her to leave the city for Christmas, and then another two or three to convince Donna that she would need to go with Rose in order to change the future.

Rose sat at her desk, tapping the end of her pencil against her timeline paper. Henry knocked on the door before entering.

"Hey." He said, walking up to the desk, "Any progress?"

"A bit." Rose sighed, leaning back in her chair and looking up, "What's up?"

"Well, you will be happy to know that we found the point of Donna's decision. She was at a stop sign, about to turn left to make her way to H.C., before her mom convinced her to turn right to take the job at Chowdry's."

"Do we have the exact date and time?"

"Yes."

"So we could plug that into the Jumper and send Donna back?"

"Theoretically. First we have to figure out how to transport the jumper to a parallel world. Plus, we would need the TARDIS to safely power it up.

"I'll figure it out. Just leave it to me."

Rose talked to Marlow about going to her world and befriending the UNIT agents there.

"Why in the world would you want to do that?"

"Because we all know we need the TARDIS to power the Jumper and our time window to get this all together is rapidly closing."

"But for them to know anything about this world, even for them to know your name, could shift the entire universe."

"They don't have to know my name or where I came from. Just mentioning the Doctor alone will prove my point. UNIT already knows the Doctor is dead, which means all higher authority know as well. They're going to want to get him back just as bad as we do."

"I don't like this, Rose."

"We have to try. How else are we going to be able to make sure Donna gets back to change her destiny in time?"

Marlow pursed her lips, "Just don't screw up the universe please."


	15. Chapter 15

Rose travelled back to her world, transporting inside UNIT's headquarters. It was dangerous to show up in the building, but Rose figured that by doing things this way it would not only help prove her point, but also there was no guarantee security would have even let her through the door if she would have arrived the conventional way. Rose poked her head out of the closet she had appeared in. She peered down the hallway. _Coast clear, _she internally mumbled to herself before cautiously stepping out into the open. She slowly made her way around the base, not really knowing who or what she was looking for. _Well, I can't really just come across the commander and say hi... _Rose pondered to herself. She would need to make herself known eventually, it was just a matter of which way would give her the most time to state her case before she was shot at. She figured before she talked to anyone, though, she would need to make sure UNIT still had the TARDIS. Why risk being killed if they didn't even have what she needed?

Many of the doors had no windows to see what was inside, causing Rose to guess and then second guess which ones might be workrooms and which ones could be storage. After what seemed like a forever of her tiptoeing around the place, Rose stopped at a big metal door that screamed top priority. She figured if anything was going to contain the TARDIS, this would be it. She reached for the handle, pausing for a moment to second guess herself once again before thrusting the door open. Inside people buzzed around the large room. Many alien inventions were popped up on stands or connected to machines, but no TARDIS.

Within seconds everyone had stopped working, soldiers surrounding her.

Rose threw her hand up, "Whoa, it's ok. I'm unarmed. See..." Rose turned around, "Nothing."

"How did you get in here?" One of the soldiers asked.

Rose glanced around. Every soldier had their gun pointed at her. If things went wrong she calculated she had less than half a second between life and death to transport out.

"I'll tell you." Rose breathed, "But only after you let me speak to whoever's in charge."

"Or you will tell us now."

"Look, I don't mean any harm. I just want to talk."

The soldiers glanced between one another, a silent nod being passed around.

Rose was escorted to the head office, a soldier on each arm, and then four more surrounding her, two in front and two in back.

They reached the office. The soldiers in front opened the doors, leading the group inside. A blonde haired male sat at a desk near the back of the room.

"Leave us." He said flatly, the soldiers turning to go, door closing behind them.

"Now, how is it that you were able to sneak in here, evade all my soldiers and cameras, and then randomly appear in the middle of one of our workrooms?"

Rose just stood there, not knowing how to answer.

"Who are you?" the man stood up.

"I'm not from here." Rose spoke.

"What is your name?"

"Can't say. But I can say this, I'm here because of the Doctor."

"The Doctor is dead."

"But we can bring him back."

"Did you not hear me? He's _dead._"

"I'm here because I need your help to bring him back."

"OK, let's say you're right." He crossed his arms, "If you're so mysterious and smart, why do you need us?"

"You have something we need."

"Who's we?"

"I have a machine. A time machine you can say. But I need the TARDIS and manpower here in order to power it. That's where you come in."

"And what's in it for us?"

"All the aliens that have been making contact. It's going to get worse, much worse. And without the Doctor, there's no way to stop it. I'm sorry, but you all will die."

"Die!?"

"But I'm not about to let that happen."

"Why am I supposed to trust you about this?"

"Because I've seen it. Darkness is coming, sir. A darkness like no universe has ever seen before. And we need to stop it from happening, at least in this reality."

"Universes, realities...? You act like you've seen it all."

"Not all, but I've seen enough to know that if we're going to stop this, we have to act now."

"Where are you from?"

"A different world."

It look a hour of convincing, but finally Rose won over Colonel Mace and was granted a team at UNIT to help her with research and programming of the Jumper.

Back on Pete's world, the Torchwood team set up the Jumper for transportation to Rose's dimension. Rose went over first, clearing the warehouse she had been given to make room for the Jumper. She told her team to clear the room then transported back to her new world, giving Marlow and the team the coordinates they needed to send the Jumper over.

"All set." Marlow noted, typing the coordinates into the control panel. "Everything should be ready to transport perfectly."

"Thank you." Rose smiled, "I'll be back soon." and with that she transported back, the equipment following her.

She landed back on her old world, all the equipment still in tact and set up just as it was in Torchwood.

"All right, you can come back in now!" Rose called out the warehouse doors.

Everyone started walking in, gasping at the sheer size of the machinery that Rose had managed to pull from one dimension to another.

"Extraordinary." Captain Magambo, Rose's assigned second in charge for the mission, exclaimed.

"Isn't it?" Rose smiled, "Now, all we need is the TARDIS and then we can start setting it all up."

"I can help with that." Colonel Mace walked in, a lift following him.

Rose couldn't help but grin from ear to ear. There was her TARDIS, the pinnacle of hope. Some soldiers followed, taking the TARDIS off of the machine and setting it down.

"Ma'am." the Colonel saluted, then walked out.

Rose sighed, no matter how many times she told them not to salute, they always did.

She walked up to the TARDIS, placed a hand on its door, took a deep breath and pushed open the doors. She walked in, taking in every sight, every smell, every sound. It was dark inside, like it was sleeping, completely silent. She went over to the control panel to see if she could find a button that would turn it on. She reached for a switch, and bingo. First try.

"Still got it." Rose whispered to herself.

The soft whirring of the box waking up brought back so many memories, and Rose welcomed the feeling of being happy and free for the first time in years. She never wanted to leave. The TARDIS was still her home, even after all these years; and she was afraid that if she left, it would disappear and this would all be just a dream.

"Ma'am", Captain Magambo walked to the doorway, then stopped. "Whoa..." She gasped, slowly stepping into the police box.

"Amazing isn't it?" Rose turned, snapping out of her daydream.

"What exactly is it?"

"It's a living machine, well, living time machine to be exact. All of space and time right here at your fingertips..." She trailed off, running her fingers across the console.

"I'm sorry, but did you say... Living?"

"Yeah. More or less. But anyways," Rose walked towards the door, "Time to set this thing up."


	16. Chapter 16

Rose and the UNIT scientists worked on connecting the TARDIS to the control panel. It was a slow process, but it was the only way they knew of that could possibly make the Jumper work. Rose made a hobby of transferring back and forth from her world to Pete's world, updating Torchwood on her process and gathering any new information that pertained to Donna and the mission.

A few weeks later, while at Torchwood, Rose decided it was time to pay Donna another visit. They had tracked Donna down and found an alley where Rose could transport to intercept her. Within these weeks the team had assembled an energy meter that would read how much and what type of energy surrounded Donna. It was a small, watch-looking device that would fit on the opposite wrist of the Mark II.

Rose got into position, set the Mark II to the regular amount of force that would push her through the void, checked that the energy reader was working, then departed.

When Rose landed in her old dimension there was so much force propelling her that she found herself having to run out of the alley in order to retain her balance.

"Blimey. You alright?" Donna walked up to her. "What was that, fireworks or...?"

"I don't know." Rose stated, making her way closer to Donna, "I was just, walking along. That's weird." She looked around, trying to orient herself and also draw Donna's attention away from the fact that she had just witnessed her entrance.

Rose watched Donna's eyes widen, "You're the one." Donna half whispered.

Rose brushed some hair out of her face, trying to figure out her next move depending on where this conversation lead.

"Christmas Eve I met you in town." Donna gaped.

"Donna, isn't it?" Rose tried to play it cool.

"What was your name?"

"How are you doing? You're looking good." Rose avoided the question, her gaze slowly being pulled to Donna's back again. "How are things? Whatcha been up to?"

"You're doing it again." Donna's lips tightened.

Rose moved her gaze to Donna's face, "What?"

"Looking behind me. People keep on doing that, looking at my back."

"What sort of people?"

Donna shook her head, "People in the street. Strangers, I just catch them sometimes, staring at me. Like they're looking at something."

Rose thought she heard a clicking noise, her eyes shifting again to Donna's back.

"And then I get home and I look," Donna continued, "And there's nothing there." She flipped her head around to look at her back, pulling her hand behind her like she was trying to rip off a piece of paper. "See look now I'm doing it."

"What are you doing for Christmas?" Rose asked.

"What am I what?" Donna asked sarcastically.

"Next Christmas. Any plans?"

"I don't know that's ages away." Donna shrugged, "Nothing much I suppose. Why?"

"Just," Rose picked at a spot on her jacked, "I think you should get out. You and your family, don't stay in london just, leave the city."

Donna rolled her eyes, "What for?"

"Nice hotel. Christmas break?"

"Can't afford it."

"Well no, you, you got that raffle ticket."

Donna stared, "How do you know about that?"

"First prize, luxury weekend break. Use it, Donna Nobel."

"Why won't you tell me your name?" Donna's voice lowered.

Rose stood there, silent.

Donna started to move around her. "I think you should leave me alone." She turned and strolled away.

Rose stood there for a few seconds before turning and walking back into the alley, transporting back to Torchwood.

"So how'd it go?" Marlow asked as Rose popped back in.

"I think the walls of the Void are starting to collapse." Rose answered back, worried.

"What?! Why would you say that?" Marlow looked stunned.

"Because when I landed I was propelled forward. The power level on the Mark II was set to the same level as always, I checked, but it felt like I had an extra 10Gs plugged in."

Marlow's face started to sink. "We need to move faster. Rose, you got the energy data from Donna right?"

Rose nodded.

"Good. Getting working on figuring out what is attached to her. Once we know that, Tombstone will be in full throttle. If we wait too long this world will collapse right into the darkness with your old world."

The following weeks were organized chaos. Rose worked with Henry and his team on the energy collected from Donna while popping back to her world to see the progress being made on the Jumper. Henry made good progress while Rose was away helping with the time machine. When Rose got back to Pete's world, Henry and the team had the energy reading machine that Rose had sketched out functional and ready to go.

"We were waiting for you to do the honors." Henry explained.

"Well fire it up! Let's figure out what we're dealing with."

And with that Henry flipped the switch, plugged in the energy device, and waited while the machine ran through the information.

A muffled ding followed by the printing of a piece of paper occurred about a minute later. Rose snatched the paper, reading through the information. She started pacing, trying to make sense of the words in front of her. Unknown object, psychic origin, time manipulation.

Object. Rose rolled the word around him her head. That would explain why her eyes were constantly being drawn to Donna's back, there was something there, something she could see. Psychic origin meant Donna picked it up on her travels, which meant there was no way to determine what it was exactly. In other words, everything they were going to have to do would be guesswork.

Rose backed up and slumped into her desk chair.

"Well..." Henry and the other scientists were watching Rose intently, anticipation in their eyes.

"We have our work cut out for us."


	17. Chapter 17

As soon as Rose walked in to the lab the next day Marlow was on top of her.

"You need to take another trip now."

"Now?" Rose was taken aback. "Why now?"

"We can't risk the Void opening up any farther."

"As soon as we do this we have 3 weeks to get everything done. Once Donna goes back, the Darkness will be upon us. Are we ready for that fight?"

"Are _YOU_ ready for that fight, Miss Tyler?"

"Excuse me?"

"Once we send Donna back, Torchwood on this end is stepping out. Our job was to get this world back to normal, and once Donna turns left, the Doctor will be alive again and he can stop this darkness by himself."

Rose was flabbergasted. "So you're just going to hope that everything goes well on that side of the universe and just look away when it's all over? Who's idea was this!?"

"I assure you that every option was taken into account and considered."

"Bullshit." tears started forming in Rose's eyes. She was wrong to believe that Torchwood was doing this for the good of the universe, they were just trying to save themselves.

"Well, are you going to go talk to Donna, or am I going to have to do it myself?" Marlow's voice was flat and cold.

Rose grabbed the Mark II that was lying on her desk, lingering for a second before heading out into position.

Rose set the time and date on the device, dropping the power down so she wouldn't have a repeat of last time. She was happy to be getting out of this world, but not happy about the circumstances she was creating in her own.

She popped up around the corner from where Donna was. Seconds later, the temp was facing her.

"Hello." Donna stated.

"Hi." Rose halfway smiled.

They walked to a nearby park in silence, stopping to sit at a bench.

"It's the ATMOS devices." Rose started the conversation as they stared at the cloudy, grey sky. "You're lucky it's not so bad here, Britain hasn't got that much petrol. But all over Europe. Chine. South Africa. They're getting choked by gas."

"Can't anyone stop it?" Donna asked.

"Yeah they're trying right now. This little band of fighters, on board the Sontaran ship. Any second now..."

And the sky lit up with fire. The light racing across the atmosphere until it cleared and appeared as if nothing had happened.

"And that was..." Donna turned to Rose.

"That was the Torchwood team. Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones, they gave their lives. And Captain Jack Harkness has been transported to the Sontaran homeworld. There's no one left." Rose got quieter on that last sentence, the power of what just happened sinking in.

"You're always wearing the same clothes." Donna noticed, calling Rose out. "Why won't you tell me your name?"

Rose shook her head, "None of this was meant to happen. There was a man, this wonderful man, and he stopped it. The Titanic, the Adipose, the ATMOS, he stopped them all from happening."

"That doctor?"

"You knew him."

"Did I? When?"

"I think you dream about him sometimes. A man in a suit. Tall, thin man, great hair. Some really great hair..."

"Who are you?"

"I was like you. I used to be you. Cause you travelled with him Donna. You travelled with the Doctor in a different world."

"I never met him." Donna started to get defensive. "And he's dead."

"The Doctor died underneath the Thames at Christmas Eve but you were meant to be there. He needed someone to stop him, and that was you. You made him leave, you saved his life."

Donna stared off into the distance before springing up off her seat.

"Stop it." Donna was upset, "I don't see what you're talking about. Just leave me alone." Donna started walking off, panicked.

"Something's coming Donna. Something worse." Rose got up after her.

"The whole world is stinking." Donna turned back to face the blonde headed woman. "How could anything be worse than this?"

"Trust me, we need the Doctor more than ever. I've..." Rose stopped, contemplating on telling Donna now. "I've been pulled across from a different universe because every single universe is in danger. It's coming, Donna. It's coming from across the stars and nothing can stop it."

"What is?"

"The Darkness."

"Well- What do you keep telling me for?! What am I supposed to do? I'm not... I mean... I'm nothing special. I'm a temp! I'm not even that! I'm nothing."

"Donna Nobel, you are the most important woman in the whole of creation."

Donna shook her head, "Oh don't... Don't. I'm tired. I'm so... Tired." And she turned to walk away again.

"I need you to come with me."

Donna turned again, "Yeah, well, blonde hair might work on the men but you ain't shifting me lady."

Rose smiled, "That's more like it."

Donna smiled back, "I've got plenty more." tears rolling down her cheeks.

"But you'll come with me. Only when you want to."

"You'll have a long wait then." Donna went to walk off for a third time.

"Not really, just three weeks." Rose mumbled to herself. "Tell me, has your grandfather still got that telescope?"

Donna stopped suddenly and turned on her heel. "He never lets go of it."

"Three weeks time. But you've got to be certain. Cause when you come with me Donna, sorry, so sorry but, you're going to die."

Donna stood there and stared at this lady she had barely met. Rose discretely pushed the return button on the Mark II, fading in front of Donna's eyes.

Rose didn't transport back to her world. She couldn't face any of them right now. Instead she went to UNIT. She needed to see the TARDIS again, to remind herself why she was doing all of this.

"Ma'am." Captain Magambo saluted as Rose walked in to the hangar.

"Don't salute." Rose walked right past her.

"Are you doing alright ma'am?" Magambo turned after her.

Rose stopped and shook her head, not facing the captain. A single tear streamed down her face, "I don't know." She whispered.

Rose walked towards the TARDIS again, Magambo not pushing any more questions. Rose opened the doors and stepped inside, drinking in the sights and smells. She sat down in the worn bench seat that faced the console. Once her guard was down the severity of the situation finally washed over her. She would have 3 weeks to get the Jumper functional, find out how to see that thing that was on Donna's back, and make sure that Donna was able to change her fate, all while mentally preparing herself for the world that was going to start falling around them. As much as she didn't want to fight the Daleks again, she had to be there for the Doctor. She placed her feet up on the chair and laid her head on her crossed arms. She couldn't stop the tears. Rose hated crying, it made her feel weak, but right now her emotions were haywire and there was nothing she could do about it.

A groaning sound startling her. Rose picked her head up to see the TARDIS glowing with a feint light, the center tubes moving slightly, like it was trying to comfort her. Rose smiled. At least someone was on her side for the right reasons.

She gathered herself, deciding that she needed as much time as possible to get everything together, and moping wasn't going to get her anywhere.


	18. Chapter 18

That night she returned to Torchwood. Almost everyone had left for the day, but she found Mickey waiting at the control panel.

"Well, if it isn't miss time traveler. Back from your own little world huh?"

"Nice to see you too, Mickey." Rose went to the panel and took off the Mark II.

"I heard what Marlow said, about Torchwood not interfering, and I want you to know that I think they're wrong and I'll be right there by your side when the world goes to hell."

Rose smiled, "Thanks Mickey. That means a lot. But I don't want you to feel pressured into this. I mean, I don't know what I would do if I lost you..."

"But you won't. Defenders of the Universe. That's us right?"

"Yeah. That's us."

That night she sat down Pete and her mom to tell them what was about to happen.

"Pete already knows all this." Rose said to her mom, "Torchwood has been helping me find the Doctor to bring him back. But, there's something coming, mom. Something awful. And Torchwood has decided that in 3 weeks they're pulling out. But I can't do that. So I'm going back to my world to help fight, and there's a possibility things might go bad."

"Why would things go bad? Rose, what's coming?" her mom looked scared.

"We call it the Darkness." Rose sighed. "Basically, the stars go out and then the Daleks appear-"

"Daleks!?" Jackie cried. "Rose, no, you can't go. You can't."

"I have to, mom. He needs me."

"But you can't! You just... Can't. Pete, tell her!"

"Torchwood made their decision. No one is allowed to go, but they made an exception for Rose. It's her project, and after all this isn't her world, not really." Pete stared at Rose.

"Pete! You're just going to let her go off and face those things alone?" Jackie was in tears.

"It's her decision on whether she wants to go or not."

"Well, then I'm going to." Jackie piped in.

"No you're not, you're staying here." Pete said.

"How do you expect me to stay here? I'm not letting her leave me."

"Jackie, you need to be here for Tony. What if something happened to you? We can't do that to him."

"What if something happens to her?"

"I'll be fine. Trust me." Rose hoped her smile was convincing enough.

Rose spent the next three weeks strictly in her old world. Everything had to be perfect. If one thing was off then the whole mission would fail. At last, one day before Rose was to retrieve Donna, the Jumper was deemed good to go.

Rose spent that night sitting in the TARDIS, which wasn't much different from the other nights she had spent in these last weeks, but this time it felt strange. Rose thought over every scenario, what would happen if Donna failed, how she might fail, but what if she succeeded? What would happen when Rose saw the Doctor again? Would he remember her? Would he even want to be with her? Would she be able to travel with him?

She got up and started moving around the TARDIS. _Well,_ she thought, _if this is to possibly be one of my last nights in the TARDIS, might as well do some exploring._ Rose remembered the Doctor telling her about the phone box's infinite rooms, and how he didn't even know where all of them were. Rose vaguely remembered where some rooms were, but she didn't try to find anything in particular, she just let her feet take her where they wanted to go.

Rose stopped in front of a white door. She instantly knew which room this was, and should have figured that this was where she would have taken herself. She debated opening the door or not; she was not in the mood to let her emotions take over again. But her arm moved anyway, reaching for the handle. Rose closed her eyes, then opened the door.


	19. Chapter 19

The door squeaked open, the hinges had not been in use for quite a while. As the door swung open Rose raised her eyes.

It was just as she remembered it. The walls painted a light blue, posters placed as if she had just put them up yesterday. She walked in and looked around. Even her old clothes were in the same spot that she had thrown them all those years ago. The TARDIS had kept her room the same as the last night she had spent there. She walked over and sat down on her bed, smoothing out the comforter. She smiled as the memories rushed back to her. How many times had her and the Doctor laid down on this bed after a day of saving the world, Rose falling asleep in his embrace. Rose figured it had to be in the hundreds. She fell on her back, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. It even smelled the same.

"If the world's going to go to hell tomorrow, I'm glad I at least got to spend my last moments here." Rose mumbled to herself.

The TARDIS groaned in reply.

Rose fell asleep, imagining the Doctor there beside her.

The day had come. Today was the day that they brought the Doctor back. Rose got up around 5 a.m. and waited for the rest of the UNIT team to get to work. Rose called a meeting once everyone was present.

"Today is the day we've been working towards. Donna Nobel will be brought here around eight o'clock tonight. We are to make sure that everything goes off without a hitch. If this doesn't work... If this doesn't work we all die. Plain and simple. But know that I am very proud of all the work we have accomplished these past months, so, whatever happens, we tried out best and that's all we can do."

And that was that. The last of the basic tests were run and everything was operational. Rose travelled back to Torchwood one last time. Marlow was there, almost waiting for Rose.

"Hello." Marlow said.

"Hi." Rose was flat. This was the last person she wanted to talk to.

"I just wanted to tell you that I wish you good luck, and hope that everything goes smoothly."

"Thanks." Rose wasn't moved, she knew Marlow's only intention was the get the Doctor back so that she could bring him here whenever there was an issue Torchwood couldn't solve.

Marlow half smiled. Rose brushed past her and continued to her desk. Rose sat down, thinking out the rest of the day. She had to be ready for what was to come, but no matter how many times she sat herself down to prepare herself, she was never completely convinced that she would be able to handle seeing all those Daleks again.

Henry knocked on the threshold. "Hey."

"Hey." Rose looked at him.

"Good luck today. I know you're not going to need it, but I thought I would say it anyway."

Rose smiled, "Thanks."

"So... He comes back today."

Rose nodded.

"That's good. You finally get to see him again."

"Yeah."

Henry moved closer, "Look, I just want you to know that I don't agree with Torchwood's decision, and neither does most of the department. We helped with this mess, so we need to be there to finish clean it up. But, Marlow has pretty much threatened our lives if we step in, so..."

"Well I appreciate your support. I just wish the higher ups would have thought the same way."

"Yeah, but we all know you'll be fine, Rose Tyler, savior of the universe."

"Not just yet."

"Give it a few hours." he smiled. "Well... I'll let you get back to finishing things up. Good luck."

Rose stood up and hugged him, "Thank you. Really."

"Any time."

Henry left and Rose gathered up the rest of what she would need.

It was time to go gather Donna. Rose plugged in her coordinates, and transported. Rose was a few seconds early. Donna and her grandfather stared up at the ever darkening sky, trying to make sense of what was going on. Donna must have sensed Rose's presence because she turned around and simply stated "I'm ready."

Rose nodded, turning to walk back down the hill, Donna following. The UNIT truck was waiting right where Rose described. The trip to the UNIT base was silent, Rose too caught up in what could go wrong, and Donna too worried about what Rose said about her dying.

They made it to the base, Rose holding the plastic curtain on the hangar open for Donna. This was the most busy Rose had ever seen the place. The scientists moved from one end of the room to another, working on the start up process and checking the cables. Rose walked to the farthest control board, double checking the scientists' work.

"Ma'am" Magambo saluted.

"I've told you, don't salute." Rose brushed her off.

"Well if you're not going to tell us your name." Magambo defended herself.

"What, you don't know either?" Donna asked.

"I've crossed too many different realities. Trust me, the wrong word in the wrong place can change the entire causal nexus." Rose explained.

"She talks like that. A lot. And you must be Miss Nobel?" Magambo turned to Donna.

"Donna." She shook her head yes.

"Captain Erisa Magambo." Magambo extended her hand towards Donna, "Thank you for this."

Donna and Magambo shook hands, "I don't even know what I'm doing."

"Is it awake?" Rose asked Magambo.

"Seems to be quite today, ticking over. Like it's waiting." Magambo replied.

"Do you want to see it?" Rose asked Donna.

"What's a police box?" Donna asked.

"They salvaged it from underneath the Thames. Just go inside."

"What for?"

"Just go in." Rose persisted.

Donna slowly made her way over to the box, Rose following a few feet behind.

Donna stopped just before the door and turned back to Rose. Rose smiled encouragingly, she couldn't wait to see Donna's reaction.

Donna pushed the door open, stepped inside, and then "No way."

Rose grinned. Donna laughed and then stepped back outside, checking to make sure it was really just a police box. Donna stepped back in one more time, gaping at the massive interior that couldn't possibly fit in that little box. Donna popped her head back out.

"What do you think?" Rose smiled.

Donna stepped out, "Can I have a coffee?"

Rose laughed and Magambo ordered one of the soldiers around to grab Miss Nobel a coffee. Once Donna had her coffee, her and Rose headed inside the TARDIS.

Rose then proceed to tell Donna about the TARDIS.

"Time And Relative Dimension In Space. Oh, this room used to shine with light. I think it's dying..." The TARDIS groaned as Rose touched the rotor. "But it's still trying to help."

"And... And it belonged to the Doctor?" Donna asked.

"He was a Time Lord. The last of his kind."

"But if he was so special, what's he doing with me?"

"He thought you were brilliant."

"Oh don't be stupid."

"But you are. It just took the Doctor to show you that, simply by being with him. He did the same to me, to everyone he touches." Rose messed with the control panel.

"Were you and him..." Donna trailed off.

Rose look up, not answering. Suddenly, the clicking noise resonated from Donna. Rose turn her gaze towards where the noise came from, touching Donna's back.

"Do you want to see it?" Rose asked.

"No." Donna said automatically, then paused. "Go on then."

Rose lead Donna out of the TARDIS and into the center of the circle of mirrors that were set up to the right side of the hangar.

"We don't know how the TARDIS works but we've managed to scrape off the surface technology. Enough to show you the creature." Rose explained.

"It's a creature?" Donna looked terrified.

Rose positioned Donna in the middle of the circle. "Just stand here."

Captain Magambo moved to the edge of the control panel from where she was working, "Out of the circle, please."

"Yes ma'am." Rose replied, leaving Donna alone.

"Can't you stay with me?" Donna urged.

"Ready, and... Activate." Magambo started the machines.

Rose turned back to watch Donna. The lights in the circle sparked to life one by one. Donna shut her eyes, afraid of what she was going to see.

"Open your eyes Donna." Rose said once all the lights were operational.

"Is it there?" Donna asked.

"Open your eyes. Look at it."

Donna shook her head, "I can't."

"It's part of you Donna, look." Rose soothed her voice.

Donna slowly opened her eyes, peering into the mirror. She caught a glimpse of it. A big black beetle hooked onto her back. She kept spinning, trying to get a better angle on the creature.

"It's okay, it's okay, it's okay, calm down," Rose tried to relax Donna, "Donna. Donna. Donna. Okay."

Donna was gasping for breath, staring at Rose. She gathered the courage for one more look at her back. It was still there, clinging to her. Donna was too afraid to move, scared that it would attack if she did the wrong thing.

"What is it?" She asked Rose.

"We don't know."

"Oh, thanks."

"It feeds off time, by changing time, by making someone's life take a different turn like, uh, meetings never made, children never born, a life never loved. But with you it's-"

"But I never did anything important." Donna cut her off.

"Yes you did. One day, that thing made you turn right instead of left."

"When was that?" Donna was fighting for every word.

"Oh you wouldn't remember it, it was the most ordinary day in the world. But, by turning right you never met the Doctor and the whole world just changed around you."

"Can you get rid of it?"

"No, I can't even touch it. It seems to be in a state of flux."

"What does that mean?"

"I don't know. Sort of thing the Doctor would say." Rose smiled.

"You liar! You told me I was special! But it's not me, it's this thing! I'm just a host!"

"No, there's more than that. The reading are strange, it's like reality is just bending around you."

"Because of this thing!"

"No, no, we're getting separate readings from you. And they've always been there since the day you were born."

Magambo came up behind Rose, "This is not relevant to the mission."

Rose ignored her, "I thought it was just the Doctor we needed, but it's the both of you. The Doctor and Donna Nobel, together, to stop the stars from going out."

"Why?! What can I do?!" Donna glanced back at the bug once more. "Turn it off." she pleaded. "Please."

Rose turned towards the control panel, "Captain."

"Power down." Magambo told the scientists.

The lights faded off and Rose walked to Donna, taking her by the arms.

"It's... Still there though?" Donna was terrified.

Rose nodded slightly.

"What can I do? To get rid of it?"

"You're going to travel in time."

Rose took Donna back to get prepared for the journey.

"The TARDIS has pinpointed the moment of intervention-" Rose explained, "Monday the 25th, one minute past ten in the morning, your car was on Sutton Street, leading on to Ealing Road, but you turned right, heading for Griffin's Parade, you need to turn left, that's the most important thing, you've got to go back and make sure the car turns left, Donna, have you got that? One minute part ten, you've got to make yourself turn left, heading for Chiswick High Road."

"Keep the jacket on at all times, it's insulation again temporal feedback." Magambo joined the conversation. "This will correspond to local time wherever you land." A scientist came over and hooked Donna up with a watch. "This," she held up a glass of water, "is to combat dehydration."

After Donna was all set they walked her back out to the circle. They reached the edge of the mirrors, Rose walking up to Donna's side.

"This is where we leave you." Rose said.

"I don't want to see that thing on my back." Donna stated.

"No, the mirrors are just incidental. They bounce Chronon energy back into the center, which we control, and decide the destination."

"It's a time machine."

Rose smiled, "It's a time machine."

"If you could." Magambo mentioned to Donna.

Donna walked to the center and got into position.

"Powering up." Magambo's voice came from the control panel.

The lights turned back on.

"How do you know it's going to work?" Donna asked.

"Oh yeah, we... We don't. We're just... We're just guessing." Rose faltered.

"Brilliant."

"Just remember when you get to the junction, change the car's direction by one minute past ten."

"How do I do that?" There was panic in Donna's voice.

"It's up to you."

"Well, I'll just have to run up to myself and have a good argument."

"I'd like to see that." Rose chuckled.

"Activate loadstone." Magambo's voice sounded in the distance.

The lights started strobing, the sound of the TARDIS faintly coming through.

"Good luck." Rose said.

"I'm ready." Donna smiled.

"One minute past ten." Rose reminded her.

"Cause I understand now. You said I was going to die but you mean this whole world is going to blink out of existence. But that's not dying, cause a better world takes its place. The Doctor's world. And I'm still alive."

Rose stood still, not giving off any sign of emotion.

"That's right?" Donna's smiled faded, "Isn't it? I don't die. If I change things I don't die. Is that right?"

"I'm sorry." Rose showed no emotion. She couldn't promise Donna everything. Once the car turned left, or even if it didn't, once Donna left UNIT's base there was nothing Rose could do to make sure Donna lived.

"But I can't die. I've got a future, with the Doctor. You told me."

"Activate." Magambo pulled the lever.

The lights surrounded Donna went full blast. Rose had to get out now. As soon as Donna was gone, this world would cease to exist. She transported just in time. But there was one last stop she had to make before heading back to Torchwood. Rose traveled to Donna's original world, the one where Donna was to pop up on if everything went according to plan.

Rose looked around, trying to find where Donna went. She heard a scream on her left and followed the noise. There was Donna, lying on the ground. She had sacrificed herself to a truck in order to back up traffic. Rose smiled, Donna was brilliant. She walked over to the dying Donna and leaned over.

"Tell him this:" Rose said, leaning into Donna's ear to whisper two words, "Bad Wolf."


	20. Chapter 20

Donna closed her eyes and Rose transported back to Pete's world. This was crunch time now. Rose ran around, gathering scientists to program the Mark II for another trip while she grabbed what she would need. She decided not to tell Mickey and her dad. If possible she wanted to leave them out of this.

Rose was just happy that the device had worked and Donna was able to get back to the Doctor. Rose couldn't stop thinking about how she was about to see him again. She hadn't seen him in what seemed like ages.

"Mark II is ready for transport." The scientists called from the other room.

Rose grabbed one of Torchwood's newest guns, a huge blaster that could go through even the strongest metals. Perfect for Daleks.

Henry met Rose at the control panel, attaching the Mark II to her wrist.

"Good luck." Henry smiled, "Tell that Doctor of yours I said 'Hi'."

"Will do." Rose backed up and the scientists transported her back to her world.

She appeared on a random street in the suburbs of London. Rose looked up, gazing at the new twenty six planets that lit the sky.

"Alright, now we're in trouble." Rose cocked her gun. "And it's only just beginning."

* * *

**Author's Note:** And here we are. The end of our story. This has been such an amazing journey and I thank each and every one of you who has followed along with me. The positivity shown to this little piece has been tremendous in keeping me going, especially with this being the first fanfic I have written in, oh god, like 4 or 5 years.

Currently I am about 4 chapters in to a "sequel" set after Journey's End. Right now I'm kind of stuck on how I want it to end, but I'm slowly trying to make progress, hoping the ending will emerge the more I get a sense of where the story is heading. I'm aiming to get it done in about 3 or 4 weeks, and will hopefully be able to get a few short one-shots done in that time frame too so that way I'm not completely inactive. But the way school's been going I can't make any promises.

But anyways, again I am so glad for the great reviews and love towards this story and can't wait to have another one done for y'all as soon as possible. Feel free to message me anytime, whether you just want to talk about DW or have a suggestion for a story. Really, I'm open to anything :)


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